Improvement in skates



gleiten tat latnt @Hita FRIDREK WICHELIIAUS ANI) CHARLES ROTHE, OF N EWARK, NEW JERSEY.

Letters Patent No. 69,522, dated October 1, 1867.

IMPROVEMENT IN SKATES.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAX UUNCERN:

Be it known that we,FnIDnEn WieunLnnUs and Cuantas lto'rnn, beth of Newark, in the county of Essex, and State of New Jciscy, have made a new and useful Improvement in Skates; and we' do hereby declaro the following to be a full and correct description of the same, sufficient to enable others skilled in the art to which our invention appertains to understand and use the same, reference being had to Vthe accompanying drawings, making part of this specification, in which-q Figure 1 is a plan view of our improved skate.

Figure 2 is a bottom view of one of the. clamp-fastenings, and

Figure 3 is' a side elevation of the rear half of the skate, showing our improved heel-fastenings.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in the several 'figures The nature of our invention consists in making the elliptical button, which secures the skate at the heel, movable around its own axis, and operating the same by a spring-lever, which at the same time forms a strong connection between the heel and foot-plate.

A, in the drawings, may represent the foot-plate, B the heel-plate, and G the runnerof a skate.l The-runner C is attached to the foot-plate Ain two places, a a', and to the heel-plate at 11, by means of standards formed on the runner. The standard D, supporting the heel-plate B, is at its forward surface cutaway, so as to form with the heel-plate B a slot or passage, d, which allows the spring-lever E to move freely to either side.

"lhis s ring-lever E consists of a strairht steels rinfr )rovided at its forward end with a iin e which )asses c a a1 Y l v l into a hole, c', in the foot-plate A, and holds'it in position. At its rear end it has attached to it the shank of the elliptical buttonf, which passes through the heel-plate B, and above this button widens so as t0 forni a shoulder, z', which prevents any up anddown movement of the button f, allowing it to be turned only around its own axisby means of thc spring-lever E. Thus we are enabledto make the skate very light, as we need only a thin foot and heel-plate, without any other connection between them than the spring-lever E.

' It will be seen that the part Z of the runner is sufficient to secure -the standard to the foot-plate,`conse fluently I utilize the recess or passage tl by allowing the spring-lever to play therein. The button protrudes through the foot-plate, and is secured to one cnd of the spring-lever. This end is set in the recess d, and has full play therein, and is partially supported thereby. It will bear against the forward end of the heel-plate, and assist in rendering immovable the elliptic button. lhe forward end of the lever is provided with pins or lugs, which drop into notches or perfor-ations at the rear end of the foot-plate, for holding the lever in position. It will be perceived that the sole and heel-plates are therefore united bythe spring-lever, one end being secured, the heel-button and the other end dropping into the foot-plate. The lever therefore assumes the position and function of the ordinary connection between the two plates of the skate, and in our invention appears to be a continuation of the plates. It is readily removable, yet is entirely out ofthe way.

There is no complication in our invention, every part being in the position of the old style of skate, yet combining new'features.

We are aware that a movable button has been used and operated by a lever in the footplate, whilst the heel-button is immovable. The disadvantage of this is, that the skate has t0 be placed first at right angles to the foot tofattach the heel-button, .then to be swung around under the foot, and the foot-platc button secured by swinging the lever around, which latter is then secured bya set-screw, and is provided with a standard, to give support to the foot-plate; whilev in our case the standard is stationary, and the lever consists of but a straight spring.

To attach our skate, it is but necessary to place the foot between the clamps G G, previously adjusted in the slots g g by means of the screws i h, held by nuts j on the under side of the foot-plate, as shown in fig. 2. The lever E being in position as shown in red lines, iig. 1, allows the button f to enter the slot in the plate secured to the heel, and is then simply turned to a position, as shown in black lines in fig. il, which secures thc skate to the boot.

Having thus described our invention, what wc claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

rEhe elliptic heel-button f, firmly secured to the spring-lever E, which plays in the recess fl, between the rear standard I) and the sole-plate B, and whose forward end drops into the rear end of the foot-plate A, in the lmanner as and for the purpose herein described.

'lo the above we have signed our names this twenty-first day of May, 1867.

FRIDREK WICHHLIIAUS, GHAS. ROTHE.

Witnesses F. Evnnrz, G. ENGEL. 

